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Review
. 2022 Aug;42(3):575-589.
doi: 10.1016/j.iac.2022.04.001. Epub 2022 Jun 30.

The Physiology of Asthma-Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Overlap

David A Kaminsky  1 , Charles G Irvin  2
Affiliations
Review

The Physiology of Asthma-Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Overlap

David A Kaminsky et al. Immunol Allergy Clin North Am. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are both characterized by airway obstruction and share similar clinical manifestations. However, they differ in many respects related to underlying cause, mechanism of airway obstruction, pattern and progression of symptoms, and response to therapy. It remains unclear whether there is a unique physiologic phenotype that characterizes asthma-COPD overlap (ACO). This review describes the common and distinct physiologic tests that help define asthma and COPD and potentially how they may contribute to understanding the underlying physiology of ACO.

Keywords: Asthma; Asthma-COPD overlap; COPD; Physiology; Pulmonary function tests.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Dr D.A. Kaminsky has research funding support from American Lung Association and National Institutes of Health, is a speaker for MGC Diagnostics, Inc., is a consultant for Olympus Corp., and is a contributor to UptoDate, Inc. Dr C.G. Irvin has research funding support from American Lung Association and National Institutes of Health, is on the Scientific Advisory Board for MGC Diagnostics, Inc., and is a contributor to UptoDate, Inc.

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